Fuels Reduction Slows Milli Fire

Fuels Reduction Slows Milli Fire

Deschutes Collaborative Forest Project members Ed Keith and Nicole Strong visited an area of the Milli Fire where restoration had been implemented west and south of Sisters earlier in the year. Thinning, mowing, and prescribed burning in the area helped reduce the intensity and duration of a portion of the Milli fire, making it easier to extinguish, and keeping private lands in the area protected.

From cutting trees to mowing brush, to conducting controlled burns, there is a lot of work going on in the forests around Central Oregon. Have you wondered why?

The forest ecosystems of the east Cascades of Central Oregon are complex. All of them are forests that are historically adapted to fire. Forest restoration efforts work to make our communities and firefighters safer, and the forest healthier and more resilient to fire, insects and disease, and climatic extremes.

Restoration treatments like thinning, mowing and prescribed fire address the overly-dense conditions resulting from the lack of frequent, low-intensity fires that were a natural part of our fire-adapted forests.

Restoration projects begin with a thorough planning process to develop a management strategy, including data collection and analysis, as well as engagement with the DCFP and the public.

Trained Forest Service professionals then mark which trees will be retained, and which can be removed to restore more natural forest conditions, reduce risk of large, high-severity fire, make our communities safer, improve wildlife habitat, and produce local forest products.

Professional loggers then enter the area to carefully thin the forest, leaving the largest and healthiest to grow into the resilient forest of the future. Much supervision and discussion takes place to ensure heavy equipment disturbs as little area as possible to get the work done.

In some cases, portions of the project area are mowed to reduce overly-dense shrubs that have grown up with the absence of frequent, low-intensity fire and prepare the area for controlled burning.

Some debris—small trees, tree tops, branches, undergrowth—may be piled for later burning when wildfire risk is low.

Controlled burning is often the final step in forest restoration, a critical natural process that makes the forest more resilient and our communities safer in the face of future fires.

Harvested trees are used in commercial products ranging from lumber to wood chips to biomass. The value of the harvested trees helps offset forest restoration costs and generate additional local economic benefit in the production of these products.

A restored forest also sustains important wildlife, plants, wildflowers, and grasses, many of which are dependent on frequent, low-intensity fire.

Improving stream habitat for fish is also a focus of restoration work in the DCFP landscape. Such work can include restoring stream channels, replacing or removing culverts and reconnecting streams with their floodplains.

Before, during, and after the restoration work, scientists, community stakeholders, students, and Deschutes National Forest professionals monitor and gather data to ensure that projects are done correctly and to measure the impacts (positive or negative) of restoration work.

And the results are benefiting nature and people: healthier and more natural forests, reduced risk of large, high-severity wildfires, improved habitat for fire-dependent plants and animals, safer communities, and a stronger local economy that is dependent on a healthy, resilient National Forest.